The Diagnosis (excerpt) "In Heaven all the interesting people are missing."  – Friedrich Nietzsche   Honestly, I prefer burps to boogers because they're fleeting.  Boogers stick around.  Why don't you stay? I know you left the strangler the keys in case of emergency." "I've decided to mail it to Chicago." "Whatever will Chicago do with a booger?"  Mike Not Goldberg asks.  "Chicago'll make it mayor," says Jimmy.  "Or president of that museum where we hid that early painting Jane tried to burn," Kenneth whispers.  "Chicago'll make it the city's official hero.  That booger will have a sandwich named after it," Cocky, weary from the long journey from which he has just returned, says.  "What was that about my painting?" Jane asks.  "Oh, Jane, I knew you'd come back." Bethany Pearson and Jordan Sanderson Bethany (tristessa1997@yahoo.com) and Jordan (jordantsanderson@gmail.com) have been working together on The Diagnosis, a long collaborative poem referencing New York School poets and artists, for about six months. They pass the manuscript back and forth via email, adding and editing stanzas as they go, a bit like jazz improvisation. One introduces a theme and the other improvises within the theme, introducing other themes as they go.